Amateur League: Kilroot’s miserable run continues

Kilroot Rec striker Michael Deignan takes on the Donard Hospital defence in their game at the Cliff. INLT 50-007-PSB

IT doesn’t get any easier for Kilroot Rec: match number 19 of the season, and defeat number 19 ended in a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Donard Hospital. And with Groomsport’s shock victory over Iveagh United, the Carrick boys are now 12 points adrift now at the bottom of Division 1C.

Manager Terry Thomas told the Times: “I feel as if I’m in the middle of the ocean – going nowhere. We did improve in the second half, but we just cannot afford to give teams a head start.”

It must be said that Donard might not have been quite at full pelt in that second half, four up at half-time against a Kilroot side who have scored no more than two goals in the one match this season.

It only took Donard two minutes to set the tone. Granted, Kilroot were unlucky not to level matters when a Paul McIlwaine header was cleared off the line.

However, only a brilliant point-blank save from Gordon Priestly kept it at 1-0, until Hospital extended their lead on 33 minutes when Graham McCann, stretching to cut out a cross, unluckily turned the ball into his own net.

Two minutes later, Donard didn’t need any assistance, notching a third after the Rec rearguard failed to clear their defensive lines.

The visitors stretched their lead even more with a fourth goal just before the break, again profiting from some poor tackling in the Kilroot defence.

In the second half, Kilroot certainly had more of the ball though it still needed a couple of fine saves from Priestly to prevent Donard racing even further ahead. And while there were half-chances for Rec’s Michael Deignan and Trevor Cole, it was Hospital who showed the way with a fifth goal on 77 minutes.